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Trolly cars weigh more than horses. A single track means that only one side of the bridge needs extra reinforcement.

As for the switch, it is most likely a "spring switch". A car coming towards the camera would always be directed to the track on the left. Cars going away would just push the switch out of the way against the spring.

Just a guess, but if the traffic traveled on the left side of the road then these are cross tracks and no switch is necessary. Each trolley would follow the straightest path into the curve taking it off of the single track section onto its respective track.

The signal light would be for the trolley line. It is single track across the bridge: possibly a franchise requirement, a clearance issue, or to help assure that only one cars weight is on the bridge at any one time. With limited visibility on the approach, at the end of the double track there are trips visible on the overhead wire to detect when a car enters the single track, and which would set the signal at the opposite end of the bridge to stop an opposing car from entering the bridge.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo archive featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1960s. (Available as fine-art prints from the Shorpy Archive.) The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.